Morristown library reopens 8 months after explosion

MORRISTOWN — Morristown Mayor Tim Dougherty was vacationing on Lake Norman in North Carolina when his phone rang.

"Are you sitting down," the voice on the other end of the line asked, "because your library just blew up."

Today, about eight months after that startling phone call, the library reopened to the public.

"This is a great day for Morristown, Morris Township and the surrounding area," Dougherty said.

The library, which is shared by Morristown and Morris Township, had been closed since May 3, when an underground explosion rocked the library’s 1917 wing. The basement and ground floor sustained structural damage, the front doors were blown off, and walls and floors buckled. That portion of the library remains closed.

But Maria Norton, the library director, said she was delighted that the building’s newer wing is ready to open. "We are just so happy to have everyone back in the building," she said.

The staff was working from a temporary office around the corner on South Street. The library is safe, Norton said. It no longer receives power from the South Street line, which is where the explosion occurred.

"We’re now coming off the Maple Avenue grid," Norton said. "We’ve also moved the natural gas line to a different part of the building."

The state’s Board of Public Utilities is still investigating what caused the explosion, said state Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-Morris), who attended a walk-through on Wednesday for local officials. Bucco said he was very pleased with how everything looked.

"Sometimes," Bucco said, "through a disaster, what comes back is bigger and better."